The regular monitoring and control of infrastructure in large properties is very costly. Watering points, such as troughs, tanks, dams and the like, are critical in the survival of livestock, however can be unreliable. As such, an unnoticed failure of a watering point can be devastating to livestock and extremely costly to a livestock owner. Similar problems exist on failure of other infrastructure, such as electric fences, gates and the like.
Traditionally, site visits or “bore runs” are performed to manually inspect watering points and other infrastructure. A schedule is generally set up where a person travels to each of the watering points, or other piece of infrastructure, periodically to inspect the infrastructure, and then performs repairs on the infrastructure as needed.
A problem with site visits of the prior art is that they are costly and time consuming. In particular, the cost of fuel, associated equipment and labour is often very high. As an illustrative example, many large cattle stations in Australia can be more than 100 km from boundary to boundary and as such infrastructure may be spread out over very large and difficult to access areas. Furthermore, there are significant safety issues associated with site visits, particularly when communication to and from the remote site is limited. As a result, a property owner may perform site visits less often, at a cost of having a higher risk being associated with failure of such infrastructure.
More recently, short range radio and cellular data systems have been used to remotely monitor infrastructure. In particular, data is transmitted from sensors of the infrastructure back to a central point where infrastructure can be monitored by a user.
A problem with short range radio and cellular data systems is that they are costly. In particular, the cost of installing appropriate antennas and repeaters is generally very high, particularly in remote and hilly (undulating) areas.
A further problem with short range radio systems of the prior art is that they are not suited to undulating areas where there is no line of sight between the infrastructure and the monitoring station. Similarly, a problem with cellular data systems is that cellular coverage is generally not available in remote areas. As such, before such systems are purchased, costly site surveys are generally required to determine if the systems are even suitable.
Yet a further problem with short range radio and cellular data systems of the prior art is that relocation of sensors and associated infrastructure, which can include radio towers, is costly and time consuming.
Yet a further problem with short range radio and cellular data systems of the prior art is that associated radio towers are subject to lightning strikes, which is disastrous to electronic sensor and modem hardware, and is thus costly and results in downtime of the system.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved remote monitoring system.
It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.